6 Father’s Day Promotion Ideas to Try in Your Retail Store

Father’s Day is just a few short weeks away, and while this holiday isn’t as huge as the day dedicated to moms, consumers still increase their spending quite a bit. In 2017, shoppers spent $14.3 billion shopping for Father’s Day according to Statista, and we can expect a similar trend this year.

So, how can you get into the Father’s Day action?

Try the following 6 tips.

1. Start with the right displays

Like with any other holiday, you’ll want to set up a special Father’s Day display in your store so you can showcase your dad-centric merchandise. Depending on what you’re selling, they could include men’s apparel, electronics, and home improvement products, among other things.

To give you a better idea of what’s popular with consumers, here’s the 2017 list of Father’s Day gifts that consumers planned on spending money on, according to the NRF:

And if you’re looking for real-life inspiration, here’s an example of a great Father’s Day display from Paddington Station in Ashland, OR:

2. Run a digital campaign specifically for Father’s Day

We can expect ecommerce to be a significant retail channel for consumers buying presents for dad. Last year, 33.7% of shoppers said they planned to purchase Father’s Day gifts online, and we can expect similar behavior this year.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you’re not ramping up your online strategy yet, it’s high time to do so.

Start with the low-hanging fruit and add a banner or section on your website specifically for Father’s Day. Also be sure to craft an email marketing campaign encouraging people to check out your store for some great gifts or gift ideas.

One retailer that’s executing this incredibly well is Untuckit. In mid-May, they sent out a Father’s Day-centric email featuring matching styles of men’s and boys’ shirts to promote a “like dad, like son” message.

Untuckit also has a special section on their website to showcase these styles. And to top it all off? They’re running a dad’s day promotion in which shoppers can buy a men’s shirt and get a boys’ shirt for 50% off.

3. Run conditional Father’s Day promotions

Speaking of promotions, if you’re looking to further entice people to buy their Father’s Day gifts from your store, consider applying promotions to specific products or categories. Like Untuckit, you could do something along the lines of buy a men’s shirt and get a discount on your other purchase.

Other examples include: buy and save off specific items (e.g., “Buy two men’s shirts and save 20%”) or buy a certain number of items, then pay a fixed price (e.g., 5 men’s ties for $80”).

Vend Tip

Already using Vend? Check out our page for Advanced Promotion Options so you can learn more about how you can implement multi-save and conditional promotions.

If you have a loyalty program, consider rewarding shoppers extra points or dollars for spending on specific items.

MyDIY.ie implements this for slow-moving products, but you can apply the same concept for items that you want to sell around Father’s Day. You can, for instance, offer double or triple loyalty points for categories like menswear, electronics, or sports.

4. Have a sense of humor

If there’s one time of the year when dad jokes will be (fairly) well-received, that would be Father’s Day.

So, consider injecting some dad humor in campaigns. Whether it’s adding a joke in your next email, sharing a funny video on Facebook, or posting a dad quip on Instagram, grab the opportunity to crack some dad jokes — they’re very timely and you might even get some laughs out of it!

And of course, if you have some humorous products for men, now is the best time to promote them. The clothing brand Look Human, for example, is promoting more of their funny Father’s Day products on their site as well as on social media:

A post shared by Look Human (@lookhuman) on May 16, 2018 at 2:16pm PDT

Meanwhile, Zazzle created a section on their site specifically for funny Father’s Day presents.

5. Sell dad-centric gift cards

We talked a bit about gift cards earlier in this post, but they’re worth mentioning again. As of last year, gift cards were the third most popular gifts for Father’s Day (next to special outings and clothing).

There’s certainly a case for stocking up on gift cards for the occasion — particularly if you don’t sell experiences or menswear.

If you haven’t done so yet, order a few Father’s Day-themed gift cards and put them in key areas of your store, such as the checkout counter and those special displays we talked about earlier.

To combat these stereotypes, Dove created a great campaign focusing on father’s who care. Take a look at one of their videos below.

Examine your offers or messages for Father’s Day to determine if they would really resonate with your target customers. Ask yourself, what type of dad would use your products? Would it be the macho or aloof type? Or would be someone who’s warm or cares about his appearance?

Also, consider how moms or kids see the father-figures in their lives — after all mothers and children would be your main customers for this holiday. Find out their perceptions around dads and then make sure that your campaigns reflect those perceptions.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out Vend’s guide to increasing sales. This handy resource offers 10 proven tactics for boosting retail sales and improving your bottom line.

Specifically, you will:

Discover how to turn savvy shoppers into loyal customers

Learn how to add real and perceived value to each sale

Discover the most effective ways to set yourself apart from your competitorsLearn More

Your turn

Doing something special for Father’s Day? Let us know by tweeting at us or dropping us a line on Facebook!

Francesca Nicasio is Vend's Retail Expert and Content Strategist. She writes about trends, tips, and other cool things that enable retailers to increase sales, serve customers better, and be more awesome overall. She's also the author of Retail Survival of the Fittest, a free eBook to help retailers future-proof their stores. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Google+.